Oct 1st "The rhythm of a disciple of Jesus"

When Jesus calls us to follow Him, we may not be aware of the images we have of God (deal with possibility of images)

(Wendy Miller’s story of stars, connecting to knowledge that one day we will all appear before God, then fear that God would see her as dirty and unacceptable and throw her out of heaven, solved issue by refusing to deal with it; but stopping the thinking process about it, she would not feel the fear. Others of us today oftentimes have had to experience a drastic situation that has turned our lives upside-down in order for us to recognize we’re not in this for ourselves, we’re not self-sufficient, and the sad thing is, we continue to push away and cover over this loneliness…some here today may do this until their dying day)

Simon Peter remembers his own need to hide from God. He asks us to join him on the day that Jesus walks to the seashore nearby.

The day begins like other days. No matter where Jesus goes, a crowd gathers (because of initial healings and tossing the demon out of the man). Simon does not recall what Jesus taught the crowd that day, but he does remember Jesus’ asking to use his boat as a place to sit while teaching.

(Read Luke 5:4-10)

Simon sees Jesus’ divine power produce the miraculous catch of fish, and suddenly he is overwhelmed with fear. He feels unclean, unacceptable in the presence of this Holy One in his boat. He falls down at Jesus’ feet and begs him to leave. Simon wants Jesus out of his life. That would solve Simon’s problem. He would no longer have to feel afraid, weak, and sinful in the presence of this One who knew more about the lake and fish than he did (a career fisherman nonetheless!)

I think Simon’s response revealed something we’ve touched on several times in the past few weeks that deep within our beings we are fearful people. We fear being harmed or dying, and as a result fear drowning, fire, falling, and a whole host of other things. In response, we create laws that protect our safety and arrange our lives in ways that give us security. Stoplights, double yellow lines, speed limits, etc all speak of a reverence for life as well as our desire to protect ourselves from the fear of being harmed.

Continuum of small fears (cold toilet seat on winter morning) to big (fear from 9/11)

We experience another kind of fear, an internal dread in the face of rejection, abandonment, or condemnation. From birth, children need to know they are wanted, loved, safe, and accepted. Without these gifts of a caring presence from parents or guardians, a painful and empty place can settle into a child, resulting in all kinds of behaviors- often addictive- in an attempt to fill that hole.

However, even persons who grow up with caring, good parents or guardians experience on some level this dread and fear of rejection and loss, as well as a driving desire to feel accepted. Ever since Eden all humankind has been living at a lonely distance from God, self, others, and creation. Each of us experiences this loneliness that only God can intervene in.

And so at times as we catch a glimpse into the Gospels we hear Jesus calling his followers “children” or “little ones.” Simon, even though he ran a fishing business and was an “adult” was still a vulnerable, scared child in his response to Jesus. Just like we can reason childishly that we can ignore our longing for whole relationships with God and others, Simon believed that if Jesus left, his problem would disappear

How does that jive with a community that challenges one another, loves one another, forgives one another? our tendency in our individualistic society is to run away, to find another place where our sense of self-sufficiency won’t be disturbed, where we won’t have to deal with deeper relationships, with disagreements, with conflicts, or with the discomfort of someone suffering and us not having the answer…our inclination, instead of facing the situation, is a childish response; we run)

But how does Jesus respond to Simon? He comes to him where he is, with his fears and childlike ways of hiding, and says, “Don’t be afraid…I am here with you, I invite you to stay with me. I am here to show you what God is like.” Don’t be afraid. Stick with me.

(segue)

Simon recalls that early in his ministry, Jesus invited all those who were following him to enter into a rhythm of life and ministry:

1) to come and be with

2) being named (the inward journey)

3) being sent out (the outward journey)

We tend to focus on the being sent out into all the world of Mark 16 and Matthew 28. But Jesus included all three movements in the life of his followers: turning aside from daily activity to come to Jesus, learning to be with Him, and then responding as Jesus walked alongside and directed them on an inward and outward journey.

I’m going to read from Mark 3:13-19 slowly, and pay attention to hear what stands out to you. (read)

Coming and Being With

They came to him…to be with Him (Mark 3:13-14):

Jesus calls us to come. Our turning aside from all the priorities and commitments we carry in our daily lives is response to this call. This time with Jesus puts us in the place where we learn to stop, take a deep breath, and listen. While this sounds simple, every single one of us today who’s been around the block a few times knows the agenda of the last day or week continues to sound its many voices and demands at us…all of them bouncing around like a bunch of kittens that drank mountain dew for breakfast. It gets crazy in our heads with all the stuff we’ve got goin’ on! (this is why we have established a discipline, a habit of gathering together on Sundays to worship God together, that’s why we’re taking time to think about multiple ways we can spend time and deepen our relationships with another in and around your fragmented schedules; it is a priority we set in our lives, just like praying before a meal, to remind ourselves that everything we are, that the air we breathe, the blinking of our eyes, everything, is centered on and depends on God)

Being Named: the inward journey

In order for us to really understand what’s taking place in this scene; in ancient Israel, they didn’t just toss around names like we do in this society. If you read down through the Old Testament and look up or pay attention to what the names mean, you’ll find that almost every single name either stands for something the parents were going through at the time, or a name for the child to grow into and seize ahold of. There was deep meaning in one’s name in that society, and this situation reflects that.

So up on that mountain, Jesus names the disciples, “Simon (to whom he gave the name Peter); James son of Zebedee and John the brother of James (to whom he gave the name Boanerges, that is, Sons of Thunder),…and Simon the Cananean (who was called the Zealot)”

Simon, like a vast majority of men, thinks he is a rock. As he continues to share with us his own story and pilgrimage, Simon reveals how little he was aware of his own weaknesses and how much he avoided knowing. Jesus begins by giving him a strong nickname, holding high expectations for Simon of his potential in Jesus’ sight, and during the rest of their time together shapes and shows Simon what it really means to be a Rock.

James and John also need guidance. (argument arises in the disciples of who is the greatest of them all, and good ol’ John mentions who was not of them, the core group, was driving out demons in Jesus’ name…now how dare he do that. Jesus basically tells him, “stop being a jealous idiot, if they’re not against me, they’re for me.” What are you so worried about? And just afterwards, they start heading towards Jerusalem, and they come up on a village that Jesus sends the disciples ahead into to get things ready, but the town rejects them because they’re headed to Jerusalem. And good ol’ James and John step into the mix again, and man are they hot, “Oh, Jesus they’ve done it now. Do you want us to call down fire from heaven on these terrible people?!” But Jesus turned and rebuked them.

You see, all along, Jesus is forming this group of folks surrounding him, and with James and John, he is inviting them to begin owning and dealing with their anger response when confronted with certain situations. In the face of rejection, James and John want to fly off the handle with rage against those who would not accept them. Jesus meets them where they’re at and calls them out of that place of misdirected anger. (story of climax anger moment in N.C. State game and teammate willing to challenge?)

If Jesus were to walk into this room today, walk to the front, and speak to us, having known some of the struggles we’ve gone through as a church in the past, I think he’d say, “Middle River Church of the Brethren, I give you the name Unity, and I will walk beside you and encourage you to live into this name, that over time you would transform perceptions folks may have had in the past to look at you and say, those folks love people and each other. They’re committed to one another, even when they disagree. But that takes time and hard work.

Sent out: the outward journey

The gifts and strengths of the disciples are identified by Jesus, and now they are given the responsibility to set an example for and guide others who are dealing with longings they have in their own hearts On the outward journey of being sent, our lives – no matter what role we play in the Kingdom of God, if our pursuit is authentic, will reflect Jesus’ call to communicate the good news, confront evil, and be a presence for healing.

As you have the rest of your lives to read these stories and let them shape you; please recognize they direct our attention centrally to Jesus; who is the visible image of God and his love, who communicates good news, who confronts evil, and who brings healing into the painful loneliness we carry as human beings.

So the mature life of a follower of Christ will have a rhythm to it, like a wave, if you could picture it: coming to be with Jesus and others following him, receiving renewal for the hard work of being a disciple, and being sent out again.

This requires a commitment on our parts, because we cannot grow unless we are willing to undergo the journey of growing in relationship with others on the same path as us in this local church community. We cannot grow if we run away when we are challenged, we cannot grow if we are afraid to challenge one another, we cannot grow unless we serve one another, we cannot grow unless we trust one another, we cannot grow unless we are willing to give our lives for one another, and all of this cannot be accomplished by hopping around from church to church according to whatever suits our fancy. (Emphasize flipside)

If we are to set ourselves apart from others in this world in order to have a witness that actually speaks something of substance to others, we must set a high priority on our community here and what membership in this group means to us.

In what ways are you resisting what God is naming and seeing within you?

How would you describe your understanding of the meaning of your life? In your church?

In what way does your life bear the mark of Jesus’ call to communicate good news (in word, in deed, in growth in Christ)? To confront evil (idolatry in its various forms, evil in yourself, in the church, in the world)? To be a presence for healing (willing to suffer with others, to endure conflict and set an example as a maturing Christian, to pray for others)? Where is your weakness? Where can you grow?